Autopsy results show a mother apparently killed her two young daughters before turning the gun on herself inside the family's high-end home, police said Monday. Nina Obukhov, 34, killed her daughters...

Shotgun Joe's advice: Don't take it

EDITORIAL

"Shotgun Joe" Biden, the Vice President of the United States, says semi-automatic rifles are not necessary because firing warning shots from shotguns is better self-defense. Really.

This week, Biden shared advice he gave to his wife. "I said, 'Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house. You don't need an AR-15 - it's harder to aim, it's harder to use, and in fact you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!"

The man put in charge of the Obama administration's gun-control initiative recommends firing two warning blasts from a double-barreled shotgun. What if the intruder is not scared away? You'd better be quick at reloading. Also, how is public safety improved by encouraging people to fire shotguns off the balcony instead of taking aim (whether firing or not) directly at intruders?

The worst part of this advice, though, is that yet again the administration ignores the reason we have a Second Amendment. It is not for sport or self-defense. Those are excellent uses for weapons kept legally under the Second Amendment. But the amendment exists because weapons are "necessary to the security of a free state." Funny how the administration never brings that up.